Friday, November 26, 2010

adventures outside of Berkeley

Well, I am behind on my postings. So this will probably need to be brief because I should really go to bed or take the dog for a walk or read a book or something other than be at my computer. .  .

Last weekend we got to go on our first (in 5 years) trip away from kids. We went to San Francisco and the kids stayed with our friends the Browns. Maggie and Bodhi stayed at home with a friend to look in on them (maybe she stayed here, i don't know!!) We stayed at the Hotel Beresford on Sutter and it was not fancy but just fine. It was noisier than we are used to but i think some people pay big money to install a white noise machine like the one we had outside of our window!
Our two day mini honeymoon included 2 dinners out (one Thai, one really unremarkable), a great lunch at the restaurant that Panos took us to 2 years ago in Chinatown (best meal of the holiday) and one breakfast at a little cafe which was serving homemade foccacia and playing Italian pop music. It really did feel rather European! We went on 2 walking tours run by Cityguides which was really fun and informative and a great way to see things that you would never imagine were there! I think our highlight was the fortune-cookie factory in Chinatown. Fortune cookies are really yummy when they are fresh and you couldn't get them any fresher than here!! The other tour was the Downtown Deco tour- very good too. We saw the latest Harry Potter movie and we went to the SFMOMA. We unexpectedly ran into an exhibition of the late Robert Cameron's photographs at the Metreon when we were trying to go to a movie on Saturday night. Amazing huge photos. We got home Sunday night and collected the kids but not before we had dinner with the Browns and celebrated a 65th birthday!! Needless to say everyone had a good weekend!

Today the kids and I and Katie needed to get busy doing something- Martin and Mary Anne are busy doing homework these days and the kids don't have any school because of American Thanksgiving. We decided on a BART adventure. We thought we would ride the rails and stop for lunch! sounds like a great plan don't you think?!?! We walked to the BART station and headed out on the Pittsburg line. We only got as far as Walnut Creek before we needed to stop for victuals. We didn't know what to expect in WC but we quickly discovered a free shuttle (in a trolley-like bus) that took us to downtown WC. good thing too. The BART station was not a hive of fine dining!! We decided to go to Mel's - a 50's diner. It was fun. It is always fun to go out for food with the kids. A treat for everyone. I like watching how they are so grown up when they eat out! Ami ordered lunch and Mimi ordered breakfast. Ami's chicken-strips and fries came in a 1950's car box. Mimi didn't seem too upset that her pancakes didn't come with a car (she knew it wouldn't) but was happy to receive a pink T-bird at the end of the meal. Ami was so good to share his 2 Oreos that he got with his meal. HE'S A VERY GOOD BROTHER. The adult meal sizes were in the category of gross excess and so I was very glad to have ordered just off the "side orders"- an english muffin and a fried egg! perfect!!! I also helped Meems finish her pancakes. . .
Then we went shopping a bit- i had forgotten that this is what this day after t'giving is all about. We went to H & M and got Ami (mostly) some new things.
Walnut Creek is really lovely and seems very pedestrian friendly and very active. A bit of a surprise to me, I had assumed otherwise.
Then it was back on the trolley shuttle, back on the BART and then home. K and A decided to take the bus up the hill to our place but M and I walked. I was a bit surprised that Meems wanted to walk with me but she is a really good walker now and we had a lot of fun walking through campus and visiting with squirrels and singing and dancing our way home.
This evening we went to our friend's Sylvia and Donnell's for a potluck (leftovers!) supper which they will be hosting again for the next 4 weeks or so. It will be a fun way to hang out and get festive for Christmas!!

3 comments:

Caitlin said...

100% awesome.

music-mama-munich said...

wow your honeymoon really does seem to continue! it all sounds fantastic and i want to visit you! xoxoxoxox bridge

panospappas said...

It's nice to hear that the Chinese restaurant is still providing awesome yum for its buck